The Path of Resilience
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: Simon and Hector's extensive planning had finally come to fruition, and the week of the Resilience Camp had come. Unfortunately, the week would not run as smoothly as was planned, as bickering students, disasterous activities and a wedge driven between husband and wife may force Waterloo Road to realise that the path of resilience will not be a simple one to follow.
1. Setting Off

The Path of Resilience

Summary: Simon and Hector's extensive planning had finally come to fruition, and the week of the Resilience Camp had come. Unfortunately, the week would not run as smoothly as was planned, as bickering students, disasterous activities and a wedge driven between husband and wife may force Waterloo Road to realise that the path of resilience will not be a simple one to follow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road, or any of the characters used in this story.

Chapter One

Silence reigned over the master bedroom at 3 Octavia Terrace, only the distant sound of birdsong from the garden breaking the blissful hold of the quiet. Two figures lay asleep on the bed, holding each other closely even as they slumbered. Neither of them was stirring, both enjoying the peace and quiet of their bed, and for a long moment, everything was utterly perfect.

Then a screeching sound came from the bedside table, and Simon Lowsley sluggishly pulled himself to sit upright, reaching blindly in the dark to locate the alarm clock and shutting it off. He blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the haze of sleep from them, and reluctantly extracting himself from his wife's arms, crossing the room and flicking the light switch, flooding the room with a harsh, artificial light.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the level of light, the man returned to his bed, kneeling down by the side of it and lightly shaking his wife on the shoulder. At first, she did not respond, but after a couple of further attempts, she finally began to stir.

"Come on, Sue, wake up." Simon spoke, his voice filled with an excitement that would not have been out of place in the voice of a child. "We're off to Resilience Camp today, and we don't want to be late for the bus, do we?"

"No." Sue responded, and her husband was far too occupied with his own excitement to realise that her speech did not hold anywhere near as much happiness as his did. In truth, Mrs. Lowsley had tired of the Resilience Education programme. He, and his new friend, Hector Reid, had intended for the programme to teach students discipline, to teach them to stand up for themselves and not be taken for fools, but all it had done was make them rowdier than ever, increasing the difficulty of her own job tenfold. Consequently, a week in the middle of nowhere with these students was not the most exciting news she had had in recent times.

Twenty minutes later, and Sue, showered and dressed, descended the beautiful staircase of her home. She still recalled the day she had first seen the house, when her father had secretly bought it as a wedding present for them, but for the majority of the time, she pushed the first half of that day to the back of her mind. After all, it had been touch and go on the last day of term whether or not they would even make it to the altar, and she did not wish to relive the heartbreak she had gone through when she thought that Simon had walked away.

Shaking the thoughts away, Sue proceeded into the kitchen, where the smell of bacon and eggs cooking filled her nostrils. Her husband was stood at the stove, watching some eggs as they fried, and he was so focused on making sure that they did not burn that he did not notice her enter the room. Using this to her advantage, the redhead tiptoed across the tiled floor in silence, and threw her arms around her husband.

At the unexpected touch, Simon jumped, even yelping slightly in surprise, but he quickly recovered from the shock when he caught sight of the locks of red hair resting on his shoulder, turning on the spot and catching his wife in his arms.

"Mrs. Lowsley, you are unbelievable!" he exclaimed, his laughter mingling with Sue's as he spun her around in his arms. They continued to mess around for a moment until the slight tang of sulphur hit their noses and the Deputy Head sprinted towards the stove, pulling the eggs from the heat before they burnt too severely and doing the same with the bacon on the grill. Giggling a little at her husband's antics, the redhead sat herself down at the table, watching Simon with an affectionate grin as he piled the fatty foods onto a plate and set it down on the table, in front of his own seat.

Sue raised an eyebrow as she leant forwards, resting her cheek on her palm as her husband sat down. She was a little surprised, she had to be honest, as though she did dislike fatty foods for breakfast, Simon would usually have made her something, as he was always the one that rose first in the morning, but today, nothing. The confusion in her eyes must have shown through, she realised, as just a moment later, a smile appeared on the man's face.

"Here you go." the smiling man sighed, walking over to the fridge and returning with a bowl, which was filled with yoghurt, blueberries and a fruit coulis, and dotted with small pieces of flapjack, a favourite breakfast of hers which she never had time to make, as she was always too busy preparing for work. Immediately, Sue leant over the table and pecked her husband on the cheek, before sitting down once more to eat her breakfast. It was going to be a long day ahead, and she would need all her strength if she was to get through it.

A quick glance at the clock radio in the car told the pair that they were already five minutes late. A large group of students were gathered outside the building, accompanied by Hector and Nikki Boston, along with the headmistress, Christine Mulgrew, who wanted to ensure that no incidents occurred before they had even left the school premises, an event which seemed extremely likely, given the excitable attitude of the students.

Christine was already across the yard to speak with Simon by the time he had shut the car door, and with an apologetic glance he was off to the office, to sort out the paperwork which should have been completed a quarter of an hour ago, and would have been, had he been on time. Once he was gone, Sue sighed deeply, before lifting the suitcases out of the car boot and slamming it shut.

However, once the door was closed, the woman looked upwards to see a figure stood beside her, one that she had not expected to see that morning.

"Sis!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister, who was laughing at her reaction. But in the midst of their embrace, Sue looked over Vix's shoulder, where she caught sight of the leopard print suitcase stood beside her own purple flowered one. She felt that she had to ask the question, although she was almost certain that she knew the answer. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"Oh, I volunteered to come on the trip. Nikki said you needed more staff to supervise, I thought it sounded like a laugh." the elder sister explained, shrugging her shoulders slightly in response to her sister's suspiscious gaze. "And I thought I could take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my little sis."

"More like you could spend some quality time with your girlfriend." Sue responded, though she did not do so maliciously. As all siblings tended to do, they frequently japed at each other, but they both knew that it did not mean anything negative.

"Alright, so maybe I didn't want to spend a week without Nikki. Are you honestly saying that you would've come on the trip without Si?" Vix asked. Her younger sister sighed and shook her head slightly, aware that she had been beaten on this occasion. In turn, the caramel haired woman chuckled a little, before asking a second question. "Exactly. So, are you looking forward to the week at camp? I mean, rowdy kids, dull activities and at least half an hour a day listening to Hector preach about vigilance, what's not to like?"

"Give it a rest, Vix." Once again, Sue sighed her statement, and immediately, Vix took the hint. They had an unconscious pact between each other not to use their names in their conversation unless they really needed the other person to listen. The gleeful smile that had adorned her face had faded slightly now, and it was replaced instead by one of slight worry.

However, the elder Spark had barely opened her mouth before Hector's voice came booming across the playground, catching the attention of all that stood there, and containing the very message that the younger woman had now come to dread, the message that symbolised the beginning of what could end up as a week of living hell.

"Right then, everyone. Let's go!"

A/N: I wanted to do something with the resilience camp, but I didn't feel like it would fit properly into Written in the Stars, so I decided to do this. Just in case anyone's wondering, this is set after 9.11, but is not canon complient after that, because Vix and Nikki aren't engaged yet (I didn't think it would fit for them to be engaged yet). Anyway, please review!


	2. The Never-Ending Journey

Chapter Two

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost and SweetiesNCupcakes for being my first reviewers on this story. I really appreciate it!

The bus had barely been in motion for five minutes, and already trouble was stirring. It had been an extremely bad idea, on reflection, to have the majority of Years Four, Five and Six on the trip, accompanied by only five members of staff, especially given that there were a fair few troublemakers seated together at the back of the bus, and Sue found her head slipping to rest against the cold glass of the window, hoping that the bitter temperature would soothe the pounding in her skull.

The science teacher was almost certain that the students were being deliberately disruptive, and with new student Gabriella Wark in the midst of the trouble, she would not be surprised if they were. They had been laughing, screaming and singing obscene songs for a couple of minutes now, unpunished, as Simon had been too busy checking the paperwork to stop them, Hector could not be bothered by the looks of it, Nikki was checking the map and Vix had made the valid excuse that she was not a teacher, and therefore they would not listen to her. Sue herself did not have the natural authority to even try and stop the students, and so decided not to get involved.

However, soon the bus went completely quiet, something that the majority of the staff found extremely suspect. For silence to have fallen so quickly, without any staff intervention, they would have to be planning something. Typically for such outspoken young people, though, it did not take long for them to find out.

"Miss!" came an exclamation from the back of the bus, clearly the voice of Rhiannon Salt, judging by the heavy accent. At first, Sue took no notice, passing it off as a general cry. Nikki turned to the source of the sound, to check that everything was alright, and Vix did the same. But the second call made it indisputable who the girl was speaking to. "Mrs. Lowsley!"

"What is it, Rhiannon?" the redheaded teacher called, turning her head towards the back of the bus.

"Miss, Harley feels really sick." Rhiannon responded, her voice seeming to be filled with just a little too much worry. She heard Dynasty Barry comment on this, but could not distinguish her words from such a distance. She was half tempted to just turn around in her seat and ignore the kids, but she knew that, as the only qualified first aider on the trip, she was the one responsible for making sure all the students were healthy and safe.

"Harley, do you want a paracetamol?" she asked, moving to undo her seatbelt and standing up, moving quickly past Simon, who sat beside her, and into the aisle. The parents had all given permission for paracetamol to be used in the recommended dosage if students were ill on the trip, and it was the first port of call for these kinds of situations.

"No, it's alright, Miss, I think." he responded, and for a moment, Sue was confused. If Harley was feeling ill, then why was he refusing to take any medication to relieve the symptoms. Suddenly, she realised the reason behind this. But not quickly enough, as before she knew it, the Year Four boy had called out the words that might as well have been a rallying cry. "I think I just need a sickbag!"

It took hardly a split second for the chants to start, just as they had done in her Fourth Year Physics class the previous term, and quickly, the woman pushed past Simon, who was now undoing his own seatbelt, to collapse in her chair by the window. Things were already bad enough, she did not need the pupils to see her cry, it would only make the situation worse.

"Right, guys, stop it now!" yelled Simon, and the students did so quickly. They may make fun of her, Sue noted, but they would never ignore the direct instructions of their Deputy Head. "It has only been five minutes since we left the school, and it will only take five minutes to take you all back there. Is that what you want?"

"No, sir." chorused the students, some more sheepishly than others.

"Right, then. Let's just calm it down a bit, shall we?" Immediately, the noise level dropped to near silence, and Sue could not be happier about that. After quickly checking that she was alright, and her giving a falsified answer that he was too preoccupied to notice, Simon moved forward a seat to the space beside Hector, and immediately began to discuss the plans for when they arrived at the camp.

The redhead could not disguise a sigh when her husband abandoned her, in favour of discussing cabins and cross country with Mr. Reid, but she hardly managed to suppress one either, when Vix shifted over to the seat Simon had just vacated. There were many things she needed at that point in time, but a pep talk from her older sister was definitely not one of them.

"You alright, sis?" she asked, although it was clear in her expression that she already knew the answer. Automatically, after years of doing so and lying, Sue opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but once again, her sister's expression stopped her in her tracks. "Are they always like this?"

"They used to be." she answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "But after Barry went, it calmed down a bit. He was always the ringleader. But now, I think they're taking instructions from Rhiannon and Gabriella instead."

"Did you tell Dad about what they were like?" the caramel haired woman asked. Sue merely shook her head.

"Of course I didn't. I didn't even tell Simon until I'd gotten in way too deep." she responded, slightly more sharply than she had intended to. She was going to leave it at that, but having seen the unspoken question on the woman's lips, she went further. "I wanted him to think that I could cope, that I was good here. I wanted him to be proud of me. How proud could he possibly be if he had to bail me out of a classroom full of teenagers?"

"Sis, he is already really proud of you. He always has been, even when you were off gallivanting around the world on RyanAir." Vix told her sister, ending the sentence with a slight laugh, which was mirrored by Sue. "He'd rather you told him you couldn't cope and went to find another job, than just stay miserable in this one for the rest of your life to try and make him happy. Because he won't be, not if you're not. So, if you want to get out of there, then do it."

"Thanks, sis." said Sue, and she genuinely meant it. "You always manage to say exactly the right thing. Although it was British Airways, not RyanAir."

"Whatever." Vix sighed, moving back over to her seat beside Nikki. "But you'll think about it, yeah?"

"Let's just get this week out of the way first." the younger woman suggested, casting a quick glance behind her at the students, who were now beginning to become rowdy again. "I've got a feeling that I'm going to be needed here."

A/N: Please review!


	3. A Sour Arrangement

Chapter Three

A/N: Thank you to guest, AmyOncer, LittleBooLost, SweetiesNCupcakes, Guest and Mini Peacelet for reviewing the last chapter. I'm amazed at the response I've had for this story, and I'm so glad that you're liking it. Hope you continue to!

When the coach finally pulled to a stop, having reached its destination, Sue could not hide her relief, as she had been certain that, with the constant questions and interruptions from the kids, they would never have reached the camp, and would have been trapped on the bus with them for eternity. She was one of the first off the coach, making the excuse that she was a little claustrophobic, which caused a raised eyebrow from Vix, though she made no comment to the contrary, and the science teacher quickly set herself to the task of ensuring that all the students had the correct rooms assigned to them.

This was no mean feat to accomplish, and the redhead soon wished that she had not volunteered to do so. To reinforce the message of resilience, the names of the pupils had been placed into two hats, one for the boys and one for the girls, and picked out at random. Consequently, a few groups of friends had been split apart and a few young adults had been placed together that usually would have been kept on opposite sides of the camp, most notably Dynasty Barry sharing a room with arch-enemy Gabriella Wark. There were going to be sparks flying on this trip, that was for sure.

Once all the students had been told where they would be staying, they were told to go off to their rooms and unpack, leaving the five adults alone for a little while.

Sighing with relief, the staff took a seat on one of the logs surrounding a campfire that Hector and Nikki had built while Sue was dealing with the children, which stood in the middle of the circle of cabins that would be their home for the next week. Absentmindedly, the redhead glanced around, taking in their surroundings. '_I wonder who had the brilliant idea of spending a week in the middle of the woods with just under a hundred kids.'_ she thought, having to contain a nervous giggle at the thought. '_Especially one with a load of high ropes and assault courses set up around it. It's a recipe for disaster.'_

"Now, we need to sort out our rooms, as well." Hector pointed out, turning to a sheet of paper in the organisation pack Sue had set down on the table, which listed the room arrangements for the staff.

"I'll go in with Nikki." Vix offered immediately, scooting a little further along the bench towards her partner, sharing an affectionate glance with her.

"Ah, that's the thing." Simon began, and the faces of all three women fell in unison, their brows furrowing with confusion. Though he seemed a little fazed by the reaction, particularly the one of his wife, the man continued. "Well, we made the kids get all mixed in together, to make sure they were resilient, and so to make it fair... we've done the same for the staff."

"What?" Vix moaned, extremely frustrated by the situation. She had only really agreed to go on the trip if she was allowed to share a room with Nikki. Now, that didn't seem a possibility.

"It's only fair, guys, come on!" Simon tried to defend himself, but it hardly made a difference to the three women; if anything, it made them a little more annoyed. "We've already sorted the rooms, and there shouldn't be any problems with them. You'll be fine."

The man made an effort to smile convincingly, but his smile faded at the awkward silence that greeted him. Shaking his head at his colleague's inability to convince the women to adhere to their plan, Hector lifted the paper, glancing across the arrangement of the names on it.

"Come on, ladies. Don't get the Resilience Camp off to a bad start just because of the rooms." the man said, flashing his trademark smirk at them. It did not seem to have much more of an effect on them than Simon's stuttering explanations, but it was good enough to allow them to listen to him, the silence becoming just a quiet for a little while. For the next thirty seconds, at least.

"Right, then." the Deputy Head began, seizing the opportunity to speak while the women were listening. "Well, obviously, me and Hector will be sharing a room, as we're the only male teachers on the trip. There's a twin room and a single room left, and the person that got picked to be in the single room was Nikki."

Suddenly, two voices rang out, both filled with annoyance and shock, speaking the exact same word. Simon sighed and bit his lip slightly, realising that he had probably annoyed the two worst people to annoy on this trip. "What?"

"Sue, don't be like this. It's only for five days." the man tried to reason, seeing the stormy expression cross his wife's face, and somehow thinking that it would be easier to convince her than it would his sister-in-law. At his attempt to reason with her, Sue's eyes widened, and her face became the very picture of frustration.

"Simon, I have not shared a bedroom with Vix for over twenty years." she pointed out. "There's a reason for that. Trust me, it's not a good idea."

"What's the problem?" he asked, racking his brains to find a way of making her see his point of view. "You and Vix get on like a house on fire. I saw your reaction when she came back the day before the wedding; you were over the moon. So why are you suddenly so averse to sharing a room with her?"

"It's complicated, alright?" she told him, sighing slightly. It appeared that she wanted to talk to him about it, but, having realised that they were still sat at the table with the rest of the staff, she decided not to. "I just... I feel like if I share a room with Vix, something will go wrong."

Simon had wanted to press the issue further, but a quick glance at his sister-in-law, who bore a similar expression to that of his wife, told him that it could wait.

So, instead of broaching the issue, he set off in the direction of the cabins to quickly drop off his luggage, before they began the activities. As he unpacked a few items, leaving the rest for later, the thought nagged at the back of his mind.

'_Why does she think something would go wrong?'_

A/N: By the way, Sue does have a slight backstory to why she feels scared of sharing a room with Vix, and that'll be explained in the next few chapters. Please review!


	4. More than a Coincidence

Chapter Four

A/N: Thank you to Guest, SweetiesNCupcakes, Wall With A Fez, AmyOncer, LittleBooLost and HorcruxCupcake for reviewing the last chapter.

The students and staff had gathered below the first set of ropes set up in the trees, which were lower than the ones a little further out into the forest. Still, Shaznay Montrose and Lisa Brown seemed to be a little apprehensive about the course, despite the fact that there were two fully trained instructors to watch over them as they went around the low ropes, and that they would be completely safe. However, after much persuasion from Hector, Simon and Vix, who Shaznay seemed to have begun to take a shine to, the girls decided to give it a go, as long as Sue's sister accompanied them round the course.

After the first trio had completed the course, the others swarmed to do the same, two students and one adult going at the same time. Hector had accompanied Rhiannon and Gabriella, by the insistence of the latter, Nikki had accompanied Harley and Lula, and now the fourth group were up on the course, Imogen and Dynasty, who were being accompanied by Sue.

Seeing his opportunity, Simon crossed to where Vix was standing, laughing and flirting with her girlfriend. She was so absorbed in Nikki that she did not notice her brother-in-law approach, until he cleared his throat quite pointedly.

"Vix, can I have a word?" he asked, and the woman raised her head quickly. She nodded, walking with Simon over to the bench right at the edge of the course.

"What is it?" Vix asked, a slight edge to her voice that he could not really identify. It almost sounded like fear. '_But why would she be scared?'_ he asked himself, and dismissed the thought as ridiculous.

"I need to talk to you, about Sue." he explained, and his sister-in-law nodded, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"I thought you would do." she sighed with frustration, shaking her head so subtly the gesture was almost imperceptible. "Listen, Si, just leave it. Like she said, it's nothing."

But Simon did not believe Vix any more than he had believed her sister. He knew that something was wrong, and he was not prepared to stop until he had discovered what it was.

"Vix, I know her." he said, his voice a little harsh with his desperation to know what was the matter with his wife. "I know when she's alright, and I know when she's not. I just want to help her, Vix, and I can't do that if I don't know what's wrong."

A silence fell between them, and for a little while, Simon feared she would brush him off again. He watched as Vix's lip trembled a little, her eyes flitting briefly between the muddy ground beneath her feet and the redheaded woman climbing through the high ropes course with Imogen and Dynasty. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke.

"We used to share a room, when we were kids." she began, and her brother-in-law frowned slightly. He could not see straight away what this would have to do with Sue's fear, but he said nothing, instead waiting for her to continue. "And things used to go wrong, just little things, but it happened almost every day. Things got lost, broken, stolen, every single day. It was scaring Sue so much that she asked to move to her own room. It surprised our parents a little bit, but they went along with it, and she got a room of her own."

"What happened then?" Simon asked her, after Vix paused a little. He could see that she was becoming a little upset by the story, and knew that he should probably not be forcing her to continue, but he had to know.

"Things were fine." she told him, her voice heavy with sadness. "For a little while, at least, and we were all happy enough. Then, one day, I suggested to Sue that we share a room again, just for one night. Mum and Dad were going out, so I was meant to be looking after her, and I wanted to prove that she was just being superstitious, that nothing would go wrong."

A slight squeal came from high above them, as Dynasty lost her footing slightly, and the pair looked up toward the source of the noise. However, the girl quickly regained her standing on the ropes, with the help of Imogen and Sue, and they were on their way around again.

Simon looked up at Vix. Her upset was clear to see now, and tears glassed her eyes. This came as a shock to the man. True, he had met his sister-in-law on few enough occasions that he could count them on two hands, but from what he had seen and what Sue and Robert had told him, she rarely ever cried. '_I should really tell her to stop now.'_ his mind protested, but once again, he could not bring himself to do so.

He had tried to hide his thoughts, but he knew he had not done so well enough, and she saw straight through the mask he had tried to make of his expression. She continued to speak, even as her tears threatened to spill, and she turned her head to the floor, in case any of the students should look over and see her in such a state. "She was terrified just before they left. She didn't want to say goodbye; she was convinced that something was going to happen to them, that something was going to go really badly wrong because we'd missed so many minor things by her moving bedrooms. I told her she was just being stupid, and nothing was going to happen. So, we went to bed, and she eventually fell asleep. But I couldn't. I didn't tell her, because I didn't want to worry her, but I was scared too. It seemed a bit much of a coincidence now. But I kept telling myself that nothing would go wrong."

"But why is Sue still scared if everything was fine?" Simon questioned, now utterly confused by Vix's story. She looked up from the ground into his eyes, and he realised the answer just a split second before she spoke again.

"Because it wasn't." she told him, the emotion gone from her voice, leaving only a bitter emptiness in its place. "It was about three in the morning when Dad got home, and that was when I knew something bad had happened. I didn't know how bad until the morning. When we got up, we found Dad sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, crying. We'd never seen him like that before; it was terrifying for us, when he'd always been the strong one in the family. And he told us what had happened last night. Out of nowhere, at about midnight, our mum had died."

Simon's mouth fell open with shock, and he sighed with regret. That explained it all. Of course Sue would be frightened of sharing a room with her sister when the last time she had done so had been the night of their mother's death. It had been a coincidence, of course; Sue had told him once that her mother had been quite ill for a while, which meant that she could have died at any time. But it had been that night. Of course the thought would terrify her.

"Do you think I should talk to Hector, about rearranging the rooms?" he asked her. "I mean, it would sort of defeat the 'resilience' objective, to change them now, but I won't have her scared half to death about this. He'll understand."

"No." Vix told him sharply, rather more sharply than she had intended to, by the sound of it. "I promised her I'd never tell anyone. I shouldn't even have told you, really, but I thought you had a right to know. You can't tell Hector about this, or anyone else. I promised her."

He had been about to argue, to say that he was not willing to risk his wife being so upset over something he could fix very easily, but a single glance toward where she was looking, where Sue was beginning to descend from the course with the two girls, told him that he should trust in his sister-in-law's judgement.

'_After all,'_ he thought to himself. '_There's nothing that can go terribly wrong.'_

A/N: Please review!


	5. Promises

Chapter Five

A/N: Thank you to star, LittleBooLost and SweetiesNCupcakes for reviewing the last chapter.

That evening, they had hot dogs for their dinner, with onions and ketchup, and the older students sat around the camp-fire keeping a dutiful eye on the food to ensure it did not burn, a job which the boys in particular took great pride and care over. The younger ones messed about a little, as could be expected, bar Archie Wong, who sat on the edge of the group doing some homework that was not due in for another two weeks. Simon chuckled at the sight, turning away to face his colleagues.

"Archie never seems to stop working, does he?" he asked, a note of amusement in his voice. Hector laughed loudly at the comment, and both Vix and Nikki smiled a little, but Sue scarcely seemed to notice that he had spoken at all. She was gazing out into the distance, looking in the general direction of the extensive forest but not really seeing anything.

"You all right, sis?" Vix asked, catching her sister's attention. Sue looked blank for a moment, before she smiled reassuringly.

"I'm just a little bit tired, that's all." she answered, stretching her arms out for emphasis. "We had an early start this morning."

Nikki and Hector appeared to believe her excuse, continuing their conversation as if nothing had happened, and for a little while, even Simon willed himself to believe that she was merely tired and not as frightened as he knew she really was. Vix nodded, although she did not appear convinced for a moment. Her brother-in-law was not surprised. '_She knows her the best out of all of us.'_ he reasoned. '_She's been seeing through Sue's smiles and excuses since before any of us knew her, even me.'_

Once the food had been handed out, the noise died down a bit, aside from a small incident with Dynasty and Gabriella throwing chunks of bread at each other. Simon saw his opportunity and moved to sit on a log beside his wife, wrapping an arm low around her back.

"You okay?" he asked tentatively and Sue frowned. She opened her mouth to repeat her response the previous time she had been asked that question, but her husband cut her off before she had the chance. "Sue, I know about what happened with your mum. I know why you're scared and I understand. I just want to help you."

Immediately, the redhead fell into silence, her lips moving in a way that suggested she was speaking silently. Her head had fallen even further forwards now, though still not quite enough to be noticeable. Simon glanced over to Vix for a moment and saw that she was laughing and joking around with Hector and Nikki, not paying any attention to her sister, while the students were chatting in their own little groups. Subtly, Simon took his wife by the arm and led her off to the bedroom she was sharing with Vix.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, Sue sank down onto her bed, curling her legs up beneath her. When Simon sat down beside her, she froze for a moment, before she relented and rested her head on his shoulder. Instinctively, his arm rose to wrap around her shoulders and they sat there for a while, in a comfortable silence, all the fears and the secrets lost in the warmth of their embrace.

Eventually, the comfort gave way, leaving only an unspoken question behind. This silence had a weight that the other had not done, and finally it was Sue that chose to lift it.

"I know I'm being stupid." she sighed, her eyes not meeting Simon's, choosing instead to examine the patterns in the floral wallpaper. "I know that it was just a coincidence. I didn't know then, because I was a kid, but I've grown up now. I don't know why I'm still scared."

"Sue, that was a terrifying thing to happen, even if it was just a coincidence." Simon comforted her, holding her closer to him.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't still have it in my head after all this time." Sue responded, her voice flat with none of the usual teasing vibrancy it held with her husband. "That happened twenty years ago."

"Of course it's still in your head, Sue, because the fear has been there so long it's stuck in your head." Simon placed his hand beneath Sue's chin, turning her head to face him, waiting until she was looking into his eyes to speak again. "But you have to know that nothing is going to happen. I promise you, Susanne Lowsley, _nothing_ is going to happen to you or to anyone else. I won't let it."

"Okay." Sue sighed, a little tearfully. But her tears were not those of fear and anxiety anymore; they were of relief, as she knew that her husband was by her side and that he would keep her safe through anything, just as he had always done.

They returned to the others hand in hand, something which sparked a rather risqué comment from Rhiannon Salt as to where they had been. Simon looked to Sue to see how she had reacted, but she simply laughed and brushed the comment off, taking no notice of the red-haired girl, who they both knew was simply trying to wind her up.

For the rest of the evening, Sue joined in the conversation with staff and pupils, all telling ridiculous stories about holidays they had had in the past. When Vix completed the tale about how they had buried their father up to his neck in the sand and he hadn't noticed until he had woken up an hour later, Sue joined the chorus of laughter that surrounded the camp-fire. For the first time since they had set off from the house that morning, she actually looked happy about the trip.

Eventually, the time came for them to all retire to their cabins for the night. Simon glanced over at his wife to see how she was coping, looking at Vix's expression rather than hers as the two walked arm in arm towards their cabin. She appeared to be convinced of her sister's genuine happiness, and if she could not see any pretence in the woman, it was highly unlikely that there was any to see.

So they said their good nights and went to their rooms, all wanting to catch some sleep to prepare for the activity-filled day ahead. None of them noticed the dark cloud that was gathering above their camp-site, nor the rumbling sound of distant thunder, creeping ever closer to them all.

A/N: Uh oh! Who thinks it's going to go wrong tonight? Please review!


	6. The Storm of the Past

Chapter Six

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost for reviewing the last chapter.

As another crack of thunder boomed above the sound of the pouring rain, Sue had to muffles her whimper against her pillow. She had been so sure that nothing was going to wrong, after Simon had promised her that, but now it seemed like they were all going to be swallowed in a downpour of rain and the deafening roar of each thunderclap. A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a split-second and Sue pulled her duvet up above her head.

"Sis?" came the urgent whisper from across the room, where the elder Spark sister was sat up in bed, staring across the room at her younger sibling.

Sue was startled by the sound of the voice; she had been certain that Vix had been asleep for hours now. '_Perhaps the thunder woke her up.'_ she thought. '_Or perhaps she's been awake this whole time and I just haven't noticed.'_

"Sis!" came the whisper again, even more urgent this time, and Sue pulled the covers down completely, so that she could see her sister. Vix gasped a little at the younger woman's appearance, the tear tracks on her face and the bloody smear on her lip where she had bit it to stop herself crying out when the first thunder clap had boomed above their heads. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Sue responded, although the tremor in her voice was no more giving substance to her lie than her appearance. Vix's eyebrow raised pointedly and her younger sister sighed deeply. "Alright, I'm not. I'm... I'm scared of the storm."

"I never knew you got scared by storms." the elder sister pointed out, frowning slightly. Throughout the years, the two siblings had always been close enough that they would tell each other almost anything; it was extremely rare that they ever discovered something about the other they did not already know. "You weren't when we were kids, and Si never told me."

"I don't." Sue told her, wiping her eyes against the sleeve of her pyjamas. "Not normally, anyway. Not when I'm with Simon, anyway."

She had thought that she would need to explain further, but there was no need, for Vix was already up on her feet, pushing her bed away from the wall further into the centre of the room. Once she had done so, she pulled her younger sister shaking to her feet and did the same for Sue's bed, so that the two were pushed close together.

"What are you doing?" the redhead asked, confusion clear even through the haze of sleep that clouded her voice.

"When we were little and you were scared, you always used to come and sleep in my bed." Vix explained, smirking slightly when her sister sighed and shook her head. "Well, this is as close to that as we can get."

"I haven't done that since I was seven." Sue pointed out, a little too defensively. There was something about her older sister that always made the younger woman feel the need to justify that she had grown up.

Shrugging her shoulders, Vix climbed back beneath the covers of her bed, nodding her head towards Sue's. With a sigh of frustration and muttering about how the older woman always managed to seem unfazed, the redhead returned to her bed. She just about remained dignified and mature for a minute or so, until a crack of thunder boomed what seemed like just a few feet away. Immediately, the front she presented melted away like the flooded musky ground, and she dove beneath the covers once again.

"Susie, it's alright. It's alright, I'm here." soothed Vix, climbing beneath the covers as well and holding her sister tightly, as if to shield her from all the outside world. Sue clung to Vix's nightdress as she cried, rivers of tears tracing her cheeks, making her eyes sparkle in the moonlight reflected on the floorboards. "Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. What happened all those years ago was an accident and I will not let it happen again. I swear, I'll keep you safe."

Suddenly, as if Vix's words had soothed not only her sister, the storm began to abate; the rain slowed to a trickle, the thunder grew quiet and the lightning disappeared into the darkness. At long last, the fear had come to an end and all the worry had been for nothing.

"You see?" Vix whispered, just loud enough to be heard over the patter of the raindrops. She ran her hands through her sister's hair, as she had always done when they were little, and as their mother had done before them. "It's all over and we're alright. There's nothing to worry about."

"You're right." Sue responded, her voice hoarse from disuse, her eyes heavy with lack of sleep and still damp with tears. They were glowing once again now, as the young woman tried to blink back her emotions, knowing that she had cried far too much for one night already. "It's just that, after what happened... with- with Mum..."

"Sue, that was an accident." Vix told her, shaking her head almost imperceptibly. "It was a coincidence, a horrible one, but it had nothing to do with us sharing a bedroom."

"I know." she replied once again. "But I was so little, I needed something or someone to blame for losing her. So I blamed us. I suppose I just never grew out of that. Maybe I never will."

"You will," Vix told her, smiling in an affectionate way she reserved only for those she loved the most. "One day."

Although Sue giggled slightly, her eyelids were already starting to droop. Before long, both sisters were sound asleep, still wrapped up in their embrace. For the first time since childhood, sleeping side by side offered not fear but comfort, and the two continued to dream until the sun rose in the sky, secure in the knowledge that they had been foolish all along to believe that their bad luck had anything to do with their sharing a room.

It would take only a few hours to prove them wrong.

A/N: Please review!


	7. A Chat in the Woods

Chapter Seven

A/N: Thank you to Guest for reviewing the last chapter.

The uproar in the common room must have been audible for miles around and Sue was barely able to conceal her smirk at Hector's sheepish expression; the news of the cross-country walk they would be doing that morning had not gone down well with the students.

She was still smirking when Simon looked over at her from across the table and although he tried his best to appear stern, she could see that he was amused as well.

"You shouldn't laugh at him." Simon reprimanded his wife, although his heart was not really in his voice. "He's trying really hard to get them involved. He's just not used to them."

"No, he's probably used to the kids at the RAW camp you were stuck at all summer." Sue responded, smiling innocently as she sipped her coffee, although her eyes showed a very different emotion. "You know, kids who actually do these kind of things by choice, not just because they would have been put into detention otherwise."

"You're probably right there." Simon chuckled quietly, unable to maintain his stern exterior any longer. "Still, he needs our support. He's struggling enough as it is and if he sees us laughing behind his back, he's going to be crushed."

"Alright, I'll try to be subtle." Sue sighed begrudgingly. Simon shook his head slightly, but his smile showed he was not annoyed in the least. Then the two returned their attention to their breakfast, knowing that, for the day ahead, they would need all the strength they could get.

Half an hour into the walk, stragglers were beginning to appear, mainly among the older students. Sue had positioned herself at the back of the group, to try and hurry the pupils along a bit, and had already had to break up two very heated arguments between Dynasty Barry and Gabriella Wark. She could hardly express her gratitude when Vix appeared through the crowds, to come and help her out.

"Come on, you lot! There's sausages grilling back at the camp; the quicker you get there, the quicker you get fed!" Those words spurred on the likes of Darren Hughes and Rhiannon Salt and even made the warring Year Six girls move a little faster, if only to get away from each other as soon as they could.

"Thanks, sis." Sue sighed, once the students were a few metres ahead.

"No problem." Vix replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "That's what I'm here for."

They walked in silence for a little while longer, but inevitably, Vix spoke again, bringing up the topic of conversation they had both been avoiding.

"Have you been alright today?" the older of the two women asked, resting a gentle hand on her sister's arm. Her concern was clear in her face, although her sister did not see it from the concentrated way she was examining the ground beneath their feet. "Not too nervous?"

"I'm fine." Sue answered, feeling nerves begin to squirm in her stomach. It had not been a lie until she had said it, when the fear had brewed inside her once again. "You?"

"Fine." Vix responded, not quite sounding convinced. She was too distracted trying to read her sister's face. It was a more difficult task than it had been when they were children. Sue had become a more talented actress since then; she had had a lot of practice.

They reverted back to silence after this, the awkwardness between them dominating the walk, but after a couple of minutes, Vix stopped them to sit down on a log on the edge of the path.

"They're going to be wondering where we are." Sue pointed out, staring anxiously at the path ahead of them, as if a search party would come marching down it any second.

"I'll text Simon, it'll be fine." Vix responded, retrieving her mobile from her jacket pocket and tapping in a quick message to her brother-in-law, saying that they would be a little late back to the camp and that they should continue with the activities without them. After all, they needed time to talk properly; especially if it resulted in them missing the team building activities.

Vix turned to face her sister on the log, catching her hands in her own to force the younger woman to turn and face her. "Sue, I just wanted to talk to you about Mum."

Sue sighed deeply, acting as if she was bored of the conversation. In truth, Vix knew she was trying to hide her emotions, as she so often did, and so continued to speak regardless.

"What happened to Mum wasn't your fault, Susie, or mine, or Dad's, or anyone's." she stated, clutching their hands tighter together. She felt Sue squeeze her hands in return. "It was just a coincidence. However bad it was, that's all it was, a coincidence. I just need you to understand that."

"I know it was, Vix, we've been through this!" the redhead exclaimed and her sister flinched at the harshness in her voice. However, as soon as it had appeared, the harshness was gone, replaced with an awful vulnerability. "I just... I miss her, that's all. All the important things in my life, passing my exams, getting my degree, marrying Simon... she missed them all. And she'll never get to see me fully qualify as a teacher, she'll never get to hold my baby. I just wish that she was here."

"Oh, sweetheart." Vix sighed and swept her younger sister up in her arms, rubbing her back as her tears soaked her shoulder and blinking back tears of her own. "I know you miss her. I miss her too. And yeah, she wasn't there for all that stuff, but we were, and we'll be here for all the rest as well. She's proud of you, you know, wherever she is. I know she's proud of you."

"Thanks." Sue sighed. "She's proud of you, too."

"I hope so." Vix responded with a giggle. They both stood from the log and walked off, arm in arm, along the path towards the camp. In the quiet of the woodland, a question came to Vix's mind. "Why are you thinking about Mum so much now, do you think? Is it just because of the room sharing thing?"

Sue's eyes fell to the forest floor, avoiding her sister's gaze. "Yeah. That's all it is."

A/N: What's going on, do you think? Please review!


	8. Everything Will Be Alright

Chapter Eight

A/N: Thank you to AmyOncer and Wall With A Fez for reviewing the last chapter.

Once again, at dinner, Sue was very reserved around the campfire, speaking only when she was directly addressed and even then only with one or two word answers. The pupils mostly took no notice of the staff during mealtimes, so this change in the woman went unobserved by them, but amongst the teachers themselves, her melancholy was far more pronounced. When asked separately, both Vix and Simon professed that Sue was only missing home; only the discreet glances they shared suggested otherwise.

Eventually, when the meals were long since finished, Simon moved over to his wife's side, wrapping an arm low around her back, so that the gesture was less pronounced to the students, who were bound to make some kind of comment if they noticed two members of staff sharing displays of affection, even if they were permitted to do so by the gold wedding bands on their left hands. Though she seemed to relax a little into his embrace, the woman gave no other indication that she had even noticed his presence.

"You alright, sweetheart?" Vix called, a good-natured smile on her face, though behind her eyes was hidden the same fear that swam in her sister's. Sue nodded tensely, but still did not speak, staring out into the distance, as if she was afraid that a monster would come snarling out of the darkness.

The silence lasted quite a while before a ringtone cut through it. Recognising the tune, Sue pulled her phone from her pocket and glanced at the caller ID. Instinctively, she drew in a sharp breath. Nothing had yet gone wrong... but there was still time.

Before she could change her mind, Sue answered the phone. "Hi, Dad." she greeted, trying to sound carefree and confident. It was only her voice that upheld the illusion; her hands were clasped tightly together, to try and hide their trembling. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, sweetheart." Robert answered. He did not sound troubled, the way he had sounded when he had told them about their mother. That was a good sign, at least, although Sue was loathe to trust it completely. "Are you having a good time?"

"Not too bad." she allowed. She would not go so far as to say that she was having fun. "Is everything alright with you?"

There was only a couple of seconds' delay in his reply, but in those moments, Sue felt her heart freeze in her chest. "I'm fine, darling. A little bit snowed under with work, but that's nothing new."

Sue breathed a huge sigh of relief, so deep that she could not hear her father continued to tell her about the awful day he had had at the office. Usually, Robert had her full attention when he had issues with people at work and she would advise him how to solve them, but now, she was not listening at all. '_There's nothing wrong.'_ she told herself, still hardly able to believe it. '_Even though we shared a room, nothing has gone wrong.'_

"Sue!" Robert exclaimed suddenly, bringing his daughter so suddenly from her reverie that she almost dropped her phone on the ground. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Dad." she apologised, though she could not quite manage to put her heart into the words, such was the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders. "Do you want to talk to Vix?"

Without delay, Sue handed her phone over to her sister and all but collapsed into her husband's arms. For a moment, Simon was stiff with confusion, but he soon chuckled and relaxed into his wife's embrace. He was simply relieved that she was alright again.

Sue lay against Simon's chest throughout Vix's conversation with their father, in which she relayed every detail of the activities and what the kids had gotten up to on them. Every once in a while, the redhead chuckled to herself, and Simon chuckled with her. When she was so unmistakably happy, he did not even have the heart to ask her why.

This state of bliss lasted barely another five minutes, for that was when a shout came from the camp that marked the descent into chaos once again.

"Sir!" Darren cried out. "Gabriella's gone missing! No one can find her!"

Sighing deeply, Simon extracted himself from his wife's embrace and stood, making his way towards the students, who were all glancing around, as if the missing student would only be crouched behind a tree.

"Okay, when did you last see her?" he asked loudly, ensuring that all the other students could hear him. The other staff had risen from their benches as well and were making their way towards the group that had gathered in the clearing. Every one of them, staff and student, wore the same expression of fear and worry. No one gave an answer.

"Right," Hector began, clapping his hands together in a way that seemed a little too excitable for the current situation. "Come on, guys. We'll have to split up and find her. I want you all to separate into four groups; each group will be accompanied by a member of staff. Quickly please!"

Nikki turned her head over her shoulder, calling towards Sue from the group she had just joined. "Sue, you should stay here, in case she comes back. You're the first-aider; we'll need you if she's hurt."

"Of course." Sue responded, returning to her seat beside the fire. Within moments, the crowds had despersed and the redhead was left alone in the darkness. '_They'll be back soon.'_ she told herself, moving a little closer to the flames, in an attempt to force the coldness of fear from her bones. She glanced at her watch; it was only ten o'clock. '_Gabriella's probably just being silly and hiding. She's been playing up the whole trip, I wouldn't put it past her. She just wants the attention.'_

Sue was so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear the snap of a branch close by. The clouds were gathering overhead once more, heralding a storm that would destroy the happiness of the entire camp.

A/N: Please review!


	9. Alone in the Darkness

Chapter Nine

A/N: No reviewers.

The fire had burnt down almost to ashes, yet Sue had still not heard a word from her colleagues. Of course, they were probably too busy searching to think of letting her know how they were getting on, but it had been well over an hour; a few words from her husband or her sister would not have gone amiss.

Shivering, the woman wrapped her arms tighter around her. True, there was suitable firewood all through the forest, but she did not want to go strolling through the darkness on her own. Besides, Nikki had asked her to stay at the camp; she had to be here in case Gabriella needed medical attention when they found her. '_They won't be much longer.'_ she thought with a shrug of her shoulders; she only wished that she could believe it.

Sue pulled her mobile phone from her pocket, to make sure that she had not missed any calls from students or her husband. Of course, she had checked five minutes earlier, but it was something to keep her occupied, and to keep her mind off her racing imagination.

As she had expected, there was nothing, and so she returned the gadget to her pocket, sighing deeply at the lack of information. Even as a child, she had always been desperate to know everything about a situation; it was an alien feeling to be forced to know nothing.

Eventually, the stress of ignorance became too much to bear and Sue began to consider going to find someone, _anyone_, so that she would not have to be alone any longer. She had her mobile on her, after all... if they found Gabriella and she needed help, all they had to do was call her and she would rush straight back to the camp. It couldn't do any harm to join the search.

Her mind made up, Sue gathered up a few medical supplies, leaving a few more in plain sight for if the search party returned before she did, and ventured off into the woods. It had been a long time since the others had left and she could not quite remember in which direction they had walked off. It was too dark to look for footprints in the dirt; Sue silently cursed herself for forgetting to bring a torch and decided to head back to the camp to look for one.

She walked for a solid twenty minutes before she realised she had no idea where she was going. Tears prickled her eyes as it dawned on her; she was lost.

'_Why did I leave?'_ she asked, cursing herself in her frustration. '_I should have stayed and waited, not been such a child. Now, I might never find my way back. And how will they know to find me?What am I going to do?'_

The pressure of the situation was making her head spin. Sue recognised the symptoms of an oncoming faint immediately and so sat down with her back against a tree, lowering her head until the dizziness had passed. It wouldn't help to render herself unconscious out here; then they would surely never find her.

Suddenly, a thought struck Sue. She pulled out her phone from her coat pocket, cursing her stupidity, and dialed Simon's number. It rang once, twice, three times, four.

Eventually, Sue gave up and tried her sister. The number had only rung once or twice before Vix's voice appeared on the other end of the line. Sue took a deep breath to speak before she heard the light-hearted nature of the message and realised she had reached Vix's voice-mail.

After the piercing beep had sounded, Sue began to speak, trying to keep her voice free of fear and despair, though the emotions were difficult to conceal when they were all she could think about. "Vixie, it's Sue." She had not called her sister 'Vixie' since she was eight years old. "I went off to look for Gabriella, but now I've got lost. I don't know where I am, I don't have a torch, I don't know how to make my way back to camp. I'm scared, Vixie, I don't know what to do. Please help me. Please."

Sue ended the call and held the phone in her hand, the bright light of the screen blinding after so long walking in the darkness. Her sister was almost obsessive about checking her phone, to make sure she had not had any new orders or complaints from clients; it had been a source of teasing from Sue for many years, but now she was thankful for it. '_She'll see that message any minute and then she'll come and find me.'_

A rustle of leaves from somewhere behind her caught her attention and for a wonderful moment, Sue thought that Vix had already found her. She leapt up from her seat at the base of the tree, brushing dead leaves from her trousers, preparing to run to her sister. But it was not Vix.

The young woman was wearing a red coat, similar to the one Vix had borrowed from Nikki, but while Vix's hair was a mixture of honey blonde and brown, this girl had only bright blonde hair. Sue let out a gasp, then called out to the person.

"Gabriella!" she called. The girl started, looking left and right before she noticed the teacher stood right in front of her.

"Mrs. Lowsley." she greeted, her voice trembling. '_She must be freezing.'_ Sue thought. '_How long has she been out here?'_

"Are you hurt, Gabriella?" she asked, making her way towards her. So long sitting down in the cold had numbed her feet and ankles, making it difficult to walk in a straight line. She stumbled a little and heard a branch crack beneath her boots. Or she thought it was under _her_ boots.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss." said a familiar voice, emerging from the shadows to wrap an arm around Gabriella's shoulders. "I've been taking good care of her."

A/N: So, who? Please review!


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